The Bhagavad Gita says that our soul is an eternal fragment of the Divine. It is unborn, permanent, and primordial. Following death of the body, the soul enters a new body (just like we dispose our used clothes). The soul does not link karma with its fruits; nature does this. But the soul does attract the mind and senses from nature to become a jivatma (individual soul).

As soon as Krishna starts explaining the philosophy of life in the Gita, the first concept he covers is—the soul is eternal, which simply means that everyone actually exists forever; the soul (jiva) is not made up of perishable material. Explaining the continual evolution and movement of soul in the universe with time, Krishna says that death and subsequent rebirth in a different body is a stage for the soul that follows the stages of birth, childhood, adolescence, and old age in the current life (2: 13). This notion, derived from the eternal nature of the soul, is the principle of Reincarnation. The term “death” in Hindu philosophy applies only to the body, not to the everlasting soul (2: 20), which can be repeatedly reborn in new bodies, life after life. This belief forms the platform on which other theories, including the concept of karma, are based.

Excerpted from Devotional Hinduism by M.S. Goel (2008), p. 6.

Because karma and reincarnation work together, they are transcended together when we reach God and attain moksha (liberation).

• Karma means “action.” As soon as we perform, we get involved in the universe, become accountable, and are bound to harvest the results of what we have done by the laws of nature.
• “Karma involves the entire thought processes used to arrive at a conclusion for doing something or not doing something.” Learning, community service, understanding, recalling memories from the past, and not doing what we should do are all karma.
• Our actions of the past define our temperament at the present moment.
• Our actions of the present influence our circumstances at the next moment.
• Everyone in the universe, except God, is bound to karma. When we are no longer accountable for our karma, we can say that we have transcended the universe.

(Quoted text is from Devotional Hinduism by M.S. Goel, p. 5.)